Evolution of a Relationship (from the start)
by julie20007
Summary: New version of a previously published story. More description, more introspection of characters, more original adventures, more meddling, more romance, basically a new and improved version, starting from Rose. Disclaimer: Do I own it? I don't think so, if I did, David Tennant would still be the Doctor now wouldn't he? Please read and review, I would like to know what you all think.
1. Chapter 1 Rose page 1

_Hello, there, now you may be wondering who I am, well that would be telling wouldn't it, although, I will tell you that I'm from a future point in this story that you are about to read, and I must say that it's beginning is quite amusing, at least to me. Well let's get on with this tale, as I am quiet anxious to get to the part in this story where I can start meddling in the lives of the people this story concerns, although, I may just have to meddle a little before long..._

In the vast expanse of space in a small quadrant known locally as 'the solar system' hangs a blue and green planet known by its inhabitants as 'Earth' and by the rest of the universe as 'sol 3' as it is the third planet from that system's sun.  
In this story we focus on one inhabitant of this planet, specifically from one tiny little Island, which is the home of one of the most powerful countries the planet consists of, this Island is the United Kingdom or Great Britain, which consists of four small countries, Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales and for now we focus on England specifically; in fact, we focus on one city in particular and that city is London, now you may be wondering what is so special about London, well the answer is nothing really, in the grand scheme of things, apart from the fact that this is where our story begins, in a small, two bedroom flat, in the Powell Estate, more specifically no. 48 Bucknall house, the home of the Earth inhabitant our story concerns.  
On the day our story begins an alarm clock read 7:29am, it changed to 7:30am and began beeping to rouse the room's occupant from their slumber, a small feminine hand shot out from under the pink covers and smacked the alarm to tur it off. She threw off her covers as she sat up, her long blonde hair fluffed over her face, she pushed her hair off her face and got out of bed. She got ready fo the day and headed to the kitchen of the small flat she shared with her mother, she grabbed a quick breakfast and cup of tea, she then picked up her hag and kissed her mother's cheek as she left the flat. She then ran down the stairs of the block of flats where her home was.  
She caught the bus and headed into London. In a London high street, she jumped off the bus and headed into Henrick's Department Store. Her day is spent carrying clothes from the fitting rooms back to the shop floor.  
In her lunch hour, she met up with her boyfriend, a young looking coloured man with short black hair, dark eyes and a cheeky kind of expression constantly on his face. They had lunch next to a water fountain; they sat on the brick edge as they ate and had a laugh, whilst teasing one another and the boyfriend stole kisses. When their lunch hours were over they got up to leave.  
"Bye!" she shouted  
At the end of her shift a voice called over the loud speaker. "This is a customer announcement: the store will be closing in five minutes. Thank you." She sighed in relief, she stopped what she was doing, headed to collect her bag and headed to the door, where she was stopped by a security guard as he handed her a package. "Oi!" he shouted.  
She took the package from him, although she looked less than happy about it, she headed back towards the lift and pressed the down button. She waited impatiently for it to arrive and entered, then pressed the button marked 'B' for basement and stood in the centre as the lift descended to the basement. When it stopped, she exited and found herself in the basement, which was badly lit and cold looking with pipes showing overhead and concrete walls exposed. It also smelled kind of musty as though dampness was seeping through from somewhere. She appeared to be looking for someone.  
"Wilson?" she called as she walked further down the corridor "Wilson, I've got the lottery money. Wilson?" she found herself in front of a blue door with a sign that read 'HP Wilson C E O' "You there? Look, I can't hang about 'cause they're closing the shop." She continued as she knocked on the door "Wilson." She looked around "Uhh, come on!" she said under her breath.  
A sudden noise caught her attention further along the corridor and her head immediately snapped in the direction that it came from "Hello? Hello, Wilson, it's Rose." She called "Hello? Wil- Wilson?" The girl, whom we have just discovered was called Rose stopped outside a fire door for a moment, before she decided to open it, she stepped inside and found herself in a room that looked as though it was used for storing shop dummies. She turned the light on and walked further into the room. "Wilson? Wilson?" she tried another door at the side, at that moment the fire door she entered through closed abruptly. In shock, she ran back to the door and shook the handles, but the door would not open. There was a strange noise behind her "Is that someone mucking about?" Rose called as she moved back into the room "Who is it?".  
Behind her back, a shop dummy slowly turned its head of its own accord, Rose heard the nice behind her and turned around just in time to see it step out of the alcove it had been standing in and towards her. She backed away slowly "Heh… you got me, very funny." She said to the dummy that was dressed in a black shirt and jeans, but the dummy did not reply and did not stop advancing on her. Two more joined it.  
"Right, I've got the joke!" Rose said, thinking this was some kind of prank "Who's idea was this? Was it Derek's?" The dummies continued to advance on her, another came from behind. "Derek, is this you?" All of the dummies were moving now and Rose backed away, as she did so, she tripped over a box. She pulled herself back up quickly and backed against the wall behind her. The first dummy lifted its arm above its head as it prepared to strike her, she screwed her face up, ready for the blow, when a hand grabbed hers.

_Well, I must say, this Rose got herself in trouble quickly didn't she... _


	2. Rose Page 2

Rose opened her eyes and turned her head to look at the owner of the hand. He was kind of handsome in his own unique way, he had a long face off set by a large nose and equally large ears, he had piercing ice blue eyes, which were currently focused on her, he appeared to be in his forties, he had closely cropped short dark hair, which looked like a military style haircut. He wore a dark coloured jumper, dark trousers and boots which kept up his military style, which was topped off with a black leather jacket, as he took her hand he said one word "Run!" In a distinctly northern accent. They moved just as the dummy brought its hand down to inflict its deadly blow. They ran through a fire exit with the dummies in slower pursuit. The leather clad man led her into a lift. The dummy that was closest to the lift stuck it's arm in to try to reach them as the door closed, which prevented them closing properly, so the leather clad man pulled it's arm off and the doors closed.  
"You pulled his arm off! " Rose said in shock.  
"Yep!" He said as he tossed the arm at her, she caught it. "Plastic. "  
"Very clever, nice trick!" Rose said as she realised he was right. "Who were they then, students? Is this a student thing or what?"  
"Why would they be students? " he countered answering her question with a question.  
"I don't know..." she replied, she thought if she told him what she thought that he'd think she was thick.  
"Well, you said it!" He pressed "why students? "  
"'Cause..." she started "to get that many people dressed up and being silly they gotta be students."  
He grinned at her, he liked this girl. "They're not students." He told her  
"Whoever they are, when Wilson finds them, he's gonna call the police." Rose told him  
"Who's Wilson? " he asked.  
"Chief electrician." Rose answered  
"Wilson's dead." The man told her bluntly as he stepped out of the lift. Rose followed closely behind him.  
"That's just not funny, that's sick! " The man pushed her to the side of the lift against the wall.  
"Hold on!" He said as he moved her "mind your eyes." he told her as he took a pen like device with a blue light on the tip and pointed it at the lift which sparked as it was disabled.  
"I've had enough of this now! "Rose shouted as the man walked off. "Who are you then? Who's that lot down there?" He never answered her  
"They're made of plastic." He relented "Living plastic creatures. They're being controlled by a relay device on the roof. Which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this." He showed her a strange looking electronic device. "So!" He opened the fire exit that they had reached for Rose "I'm going to go up there and blow them up, and I might well die in the process. But don't worry about me, no. Go home, go on! Go and have your lovely beans on toast." He said as he propelled her out the door "don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed." He shut the door. Rose turned away from the door with a bemused look on her face, but she turned around as the man, she had now decided was strange opened the door "I'm the Doctor, by the way, what's your name?" He asked.  
"Rose." She replied.  
"Nice to meet you, Rose." Said the man, whom we have just discovered was called the Doctor "Run for your life." He closed the door again. Rose ran away causing confused looks from passers by as she almost got herself run over by a taxi in her distraction.  
" Watch it! " the driver shouted at her.  
Rose proceeded to get as far away from the building as possible an looked back just in time to see the the top floor blow up. She staggered back slightly in shock, wondering if 'the Doctor' as the strange man had called himself had made it out of the building alive or not. She then ran home, not noticing the police box that she ran past, which had not been there the day before.

When she made it home, she found herself sitting on the sofa watching _BBC News 24_ on the television. _"The whole of Central London has been closed off as police investigate the fire. Earlier reports in the..."_

The dummy's arm was lying on the couch beside her. Her mother walked in, phone to her ear in one hand and a mug of steaming tea in the other. "I know, it's on the telly! It's everywhere!" her mother was saying "She's lucky to be alive!" She handed Rose the mug. "Honestly, it's aged her." she continued as she walked away. "Skin like an old bible. Walking in now you'd think _I _was her daughter! Oh and here's himself..." she said as Rose's boyfriend appeared in the doorway, concern, the primary emotion on his face.  
"I've been phoning your mobile, you could have been dead!" he said as he walked towards her "It's on the news and everything! I can't believe that your shop went up!" He hugged her.  
"I'm alright, honestly, I'm fine." she said as she shoved him off "Don't make a fuss."  
"Well, what happened?"  
"I don't know!"  
"What was it though, what caused it?"  
"I wasn't in the shop, I was outside, I didn't see anything..."  
Her mother walked back in "- it's Debbie on the other end, she knows a man from _the Mirror_\- Five Hundred quid for an interview!" she told Rose, with her hand covering the mouth piece of the phone.  
"Oh, that's brilliant!" Rose said as she held her hand out for the phone "Give it here!" she took the phone from her mum and hung it up.  
"Well you've gotta find some way of making money." her mother said "Your job's kaput and I'm not bailing you out." the phone rang again and her mother answered it. "Bev! She's alive!" she left the room. "I tell ya, sue for compensation, she was within seconds of death..."  
Rose's boyfriend looked at the mug in her hands "What're you drinking?" he asked "Tea? No, no, no, that's no good, that's no good. You're in shock, you need something stronger."  
"Why?"  
"You deserve a proper drink, you and me, we're going down the pub, my treat. How about it?"  
Rose smiled "Is there a match on?"  
"I'm just thinking about you, babe!" he said.  
"There's a math on, ain't there?" Rose pressed as he grabbed her hand and attempted to pull her up.  
"Well that's not the point." he said "We could catch the last five minutes."  
"Go on, then." Rose said "I'm fine, really. Go. Get rid of that..." she gestured to the dummy's arm. Her boyfriend pointed to his lips. Rose kissed him and then he pushed her back on to the couch and they laughed. He got up to go and Rose put her leg out to trip him up and then he picked up the arm and waved it at her  
"Buh bye!" he said  
"Bye!" Rose said as he pretended to strangle himself with the arm and left, Rose shook her head fondly and turned her attention back to the news. _"...Fire then spread throughout the store... there is very little chance of saving the infrastructure..."_

_Well, well, well... our Doctor has certainly made a mess of that one, although, he can't take all the blame... some of it has to be aimed in my direction, after all, I need Rose in the right place at the right time after all...that bit will start to make sense soon. And as for her boyfriend... he really is an idiot! I may have to do something about him soon..._


	3. Rose Page 3

_Well, here we go again... I've already started to meddle... something that you'll discover in a few moments, I have engineered a second meeting for My Doctor and Rose... I'm still not going to tell you who I am, however as it is needed, I will begin meddling more..._

The next morning, Rose's alarm clock went off at 7:30, she whacked it ti stop it and sat up, she then heard her mum shout. "There's no point in getting up sweetheart. You've got no job to go to." Rose flopped back on her pillow.  
Some time later, Rose was having breakfast. "There's Finches..." her mother was telling her "You could try them. They've always got jobs."  
"Oh great." Rose said moodily like the teenager she was. "The butchers."  
"Well, it might do you good!" her mum said "That shop was giving you airs and graces. And I'm not joking about getting compensation- you've had genuine shock and trauma!" she paused "Arianna got two thousand quid off the council just because the old man behind the desk said she looked Greek! I know she _is _Greek, but that's not the point- it's a valid claim." she finished as she entered her bedroom.  
Rose stood up in the living room as she heard a rattling noise coming from the hall. "Mum, you're such a liar," she said as she headed into the hall "I told you to nail that cat flap down. We're going to get strays!"  
"I did it weeks back!"  
"No, you thought about it!" she replied, then she discovered that her mum must have done it and the screws had since fallen out on to the floor. The cat flap rattled violently, Rose jumped backwards, then came back cautiously on her hands and knees and poked the cat flap open gingerly only to discover the strange man, who had called himself the Doctor's face right outside it. She gasped and opened the door.  
"What are you doing here?" he asked with confusion.  
"I live here."  
"Well, what do you do that for?"  
"Because I do!" Rose exclaimed "And I'm only at home because someone blew my job up."  
The Doctor got out the pen type thing from the night before and looked at it "Must've got the wrong signal." he said "You're not plastic are you?" he knocked on her forehead "No, bonehead. Bye, then!" He made to leave, but Rose pulled him inside.  
"You, inside." she instructed. "Right now." She shut the door behind him.  
"Who is it?" her mum asked.  
Rose poked her head into her mum's bedroom. "It's about last night, he's part of the enquiry." she explained "Give us 10 minutes."  
"She deserves compensation."  
"We're talking millions." the Doctor said as he leant against the door frame waiting for Rose to come back. Rose's mum looked at him for a moment and then stood up, flirtatiously.  
"I'm in my dressing gown." she pointed out.  
"Yes, you are." he said, clearly misunderstanding her.  
"There's a strange man in my bedroom."  
"Yes there is."  
"Well anything could happen."  
"No." the Doctor said, then he walked off. He headed into the living room where he found Rose.  
"Don't mind the mess." she said "Do you want a coffee?"  
"Might as well, thanks!" he said "Just milk."  
Rose went into the kitchen and started making coffee. "We should go to the police." Rose said as she pottered about in the kitchen "Seriously. Both of us."  
In the living room the Doctor was clearly not listening to her as he picked up a gossip magazine from the coffee table. "That won't work, he's gay and she's an alien." he muttered.  
"I'm not blaming you, even if it was just some sort of joke that went wrong." Rose continued not knowing that her new acquaintance wasn't listening.  
He picked up a book and flicked through it, "Sad ending."  
"They said on the news they'd found a body."  
The Doctor picked up an envelope and read the name on the front "Rose Tyler." He put the enveloped down and then looked in the mirror that hung on the wall beside the wall that the kitchen hatch window was on "Ahh, could have been worse!" he prodded his large ears "Look at me ears."  
"All the same, he was nice." Rose was saying, still completely unaware of the Doctor's antics as he played with a pack of cards "Nice bloke."  
"Luck be a lady!" he sort of sang as he shuffled the cards.  
"Well anyway if we are going to go to the police," Rose continued "I want to know what I'm saying." The Doctor continued playing with the cards and managed to make them all go flying. "I want you to explain everything."  
"Maybe not." he said of the cards, then he heard a scuffling noise from behind the sofa, "What's that then?" he asked quietly, then turned to the kitchen "You go a cat?" he asked Rose  
"No..." Rose answered. The Doctor leant over the back of the sofa and the dummy's arm leapt out from behind it and grabbed him by the neck. At that moment Rose wandered it with cups of coffee "We did have, but there's these strays, they come in off the estate..." behind her, the Doctor was being strangled viciously by the hand whilst he tried to fight it off. Rose didn't even notice that the Doctor was being attacked by the hand. "I told Mickey to chuck that out.." she continued when she noticed the hand. She put the coffee down on the table "Honestly, give a man a plastic hand... anyway, I don't even know your name, Doctor... what was it?"  
The Doctor finally managed to get the hand off and it flew across the room and attached itself to Rose's face. She screamed and the Doctor leapt up and tried to pull it off of her. The crashed into the coffee table, which broke under their combined weight and they rolled onto the floor. The Doctor pushed Rose off him into a standing position and then onto the sofa and held her in place as he pulled out the metal pen thing and used it to disable the hand.  
"It's alright, I've stopped it." he said "There you go, you see?" he tossed it at her "'Armless."  
"Do you think?" Rose asked as she used it to whack him on the shoulder.  
"Ow." he said as he held his shoulder with his other arm, a slightly wounded expression on his face. He took the arm off of her.

The Doctor then left the flat and ran down the stairs, Rose hot on his heels. shouting after him. "Hold on a minute, you can't just go swanning off." she called after him.  
"Yes I can." the Doctor said "Here I am, this is me, swanning off. See ya!"  
"That arm was moving, it tried to kill me!" Rose pressed.  
"Ten out of ten for observation." the Doctor said somewhat sarcastically as they continued down the stairs.  
"You can't just walk away, that's not fair!" Rose tried "You've got to tell me what's going on."  
"No I don't." he said as they reached the bottom of the stairs and went through the door  
"Alright, then." Rose said as she followed him out. "I'll go to the police. I'll tell everyone. You said, if I did that, I'd get people killed. So your choice. Tell me or I'll start talking."  
"Is that supposed to sound tough?"  
"Sort of." Rose replied  
"Doesn't work."  
"Who are you?" she asked as they walked.  
"I told you!" the Doctor said "The Doctor."  
"Yeah." Rose said "But Doctor what?"  
"Just the Doctor."  
"The Doctor." Rose said disbelievingly.  
"Hello!" the Doctor said with a cheeky wave.  
"Is that supposed to sound impressive?" Rose asked  
"Sort of." the Doctor said in the same tone as Rose had used.  
"Come on." Rose tried. "You can tell me. I've seen enough. Are you the police?"  
"No." the Doctor answered "I was just passing through. I'm a long way from home."  
"But what have I done wrong?" Rose asked "How comes those plastic things keep coming after me?"  
"Oh!" the Doctor said "Suddenly the entire world revolves around you! You were just an accident, you got in the way, that's all."  
"It tried to kill me!" Rose exclaimed  
"It was after me, not you!" the Doctor told her "Last night, in the shop, I was there you blundered it. Almost ruined the whole thing. This morning, I was tracking it down, it was tracking me down... the only reason it fixed on you is that you met me."  
"So, what you're saying is, the entire world revolves around you." Rose stated.  
"Sort of, yeah." the Doctor said.  
"You're full of it!"  
"Sort of, yeah." the Doctor agreed.  
"But all this plastic stuff- who else knows about it?" Rose asked  
"No one." he answered.  
"What, you're on your own?" Rose asked.  
"Well, who else is there?" the Doctor asked rhetorically "I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, got to bed and watch telly! When all the time underneath you, there's a war going on!"  
Rose took the arm from him "Okay, start from the beginning." they were now walking along a road near Rose's flat "If you're gonna go with this living plastic, and I don't even believe that, but if we do... how did you kill it?"  
"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm." he explained "I cut off the signal, dead."  
"So that's radio control?" Rose asked  
"Thought control." he corrected, silencing Rose "Are you alright?"  
"Yeah." Rose said "So, who's controlling it, then?"  
"Long story." the Doctor answered.  
"But, what's it all for?" Rose asked "I mean, shop window dummies... What's that about? Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?" They laughed.  
"No."  
"I know."  
"It's not a price war." the Doctor said and the laughed again, then suddenly turned serious "They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you. Do you believe me?"  
"No."  
"But you're still listening." the Doctor said, Rose stopped and the Doctor walked on.  
"Really though, Doctor." Rose said "Tell me- who are you?"  
The Doctor stopped "Do you know like we were saying? About the Earth revolving?" he asked as he walked back to her "It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it." He took her hand "The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me. Clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go..." he let go of her hand "That's who I am." he told her "Now forget me, Rose Tyler." he took the arm back and waved it in her face, "Go home." he told her and he walked away. Rose watched his retreating back and then started to walk away, she heard a strange sound and ran back as fast as she could to where she had just been, but there was no sign of the Doctor. She shielded her eyes from the sun, looked around her, then walked away.

_Oh dear, this isn't quite working out the way I had hoped... He really thought that arm went to Rose by coincidence... that wasn't coincidence, that was me, I think I may have to try a bit harder to get him to see what he's being offered here. Oh well, I may just have to give Rose a nudge in the right direction, seeing as the Doctor has decided that he doesn't need anyone..._


	4. Rose Page 4

_Ok, here's where I start meddling… the Doctor really is far too stubborn for my liking. Rose on the other hand will be fairly easy to manipulate (although that isn't necessarily the correct word). I will plant the thought in her head that she needs to find more out about the Doctor….. Or maybe I won't have to, she's thought of that all by herself… so it's only the Doctor I have to convince that she should be helping him out…._

Rose headed to another flat in the Powell Estate, where her boyfriend, Mickey, as we have just discovered his name was, opened the door and allowed her in "Yahey, there's my woman!" he said as he slapped her bum "Kit off!"  
"Shut up!" Rose said as he kissed her "Mwah!"  
"Coffee?"  
"Yeah, only if you wash the mug." Rose answered, knowing her boyfriend well enough to know that there would be no clean mugs in his flat "And I don't mean rinse, I mean wash. Can I use your computer?"  
"Yeah." Mickey said "Any excuse to get in the bedroom." He went into the kitchen and Rose entered his messy bedroom and closed the door behind her. "Don't read my emails!" he called through the closed door.  
Rose sat at Mickey's desk and turned on the computer and waited for it to load up. She clicked on the internet icon and when it loaded she typed the word 'Doctor' into the search engine that was Mickey's home page. Thousands of results were found, but none of them were relevant. She typed in 'Doctor Living Plastic', still no relevant results. Then she remembered, when she had been talking to the Doctor, she saw a blue box behind him on the opposite side of the street and when she had heard the strange sound the box was gone. She typed 'Doctor Blue Box'. The first result read 'Doctor Who- do you know this man? Contact Clive here…' Rose clicked on the link and a webpage with a blurry photograph of the man she had just met and the words 'Have you seen this man? Contact Clive'. Rose clicked on the link.

Later that day, Rose and Mickey were sitting in his car in a quiet street across from the home of Clive from the website. "You're not coming in!" Rose argued. "He's safe, he's got a wife and kids."  
"Yeah, but who told you that?" he countered "He did. That's exactly what an internet lunatic murderer would say."  
Rose got out of the car anyway, grinning at him. Mickey didn't look too happy and gave a man who was putting out his rubbish bins an evil look. Rose reached the house and knocked on the door and it was answered by a boy of about 11 years old. "Uh, hello, I've come to see Clive?" Rose said "We've been emailing."  
"Dad!" the kid called "It's one of your nutters!"  
A man appeared at the door, he was somewhere round about his forties, he was tall, heavy set, with a roundish face, which appeared to constantly have a smile on it, his eyes, she noticed, were filled with honesty and a child-like curiosity. "Sorry." He said, obviously due to his son. "Hello." He held out his hand for Rose to shake. "You must be Rose." He checked as she took his hand "I'm Clive. Obviously!"  
"I'd better tell you now- my boyfriend's waiting in the car, just in case you're going to kill me!" Rose told Clive and both of them laughed.  
"No, good point." Clive agreed "No murders. He waved to Mickey in a friendly gesture, trying to let him know that no harm would come to Rose, he nodded back at Clive, his distrustful expression still on his face.  
"Who is it?" a woman's voice asked from upstairs.  
"Oh, it's something to do with the Doctor!" Clive replied "She's been reading the website." He turned his attention back to Rose "Please come through, I'm in the shed." He stepped aside as he spoke and Rose stepped inside as Clive's wife came down the stairs, carrying a washing basket.  
"She?" she questioned in disbelief "She read a website about the Doctor? She's a she?" She smiled, thinking the whole thing ironic and shut their front door, noting Mickey's suspicious look as she did so.

Outside, in Clive's shed, Clive showed Rose around, the shed was obviously some sort of a shrine to the Doctor. "A lot of this stuff is quiet sensitive, I couldn't just send it to you." he explained "People might intercept it, if you know what I mean. If you dig deep enough - keep a lively mind - this Doctor keeps cropping up all over the place." He told Rose "Political diaries, conspiracy theories. Even ghost stories. No first name, no last name. Just 'The Doctor'. Always The Doctor. And the title seems to have been passed down from father to son, it appears to be an inheritance. That's you Doctor there isn't it?" He pointed to a computer screen behind them, on the screen was the photo of the man she'd met.  
"Yeah."  
"I tracked it down to the Washington public archive last year." Clive told her "The online photo's enhanced, but if we look at the original..." He showed Rose some photographs of the Doctor standing in a crowd at the time and place of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. "November the 22nd 1963." Clive continued "The assassination of President Kennedy."  
"Must be his father." Rose commented.  
"Going further back... April 1912." he said as he brought over a photo album. "This is a photo of the Daniels family, Southampton. And friend." He pointed to the Doctor standing with the family "This was taken the day before they were due to sail off for the New World. On the _Titanic. _And for some unknown reason, they cancelled the trip and survived. And..." He showed her a sketch "1883. Another Doctor, And look - the same lineage. He's identical. This one washed up on the coast of Sumatra on the very day Krakatoa exploded. The Doctor is a legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he's there. He has a storm in his wake. And he has one constant companion."  
"Who's that?" Rose asked, now extremely intrigued.  
"Death." Clive answered. "If the Doctor's back... If you've seen him, Rose... then one thing's for certain - we're in danger." He paused. "If he's singled you out... if the Doctor's making house calls...the God help you."  
"Who is he?" Rose asked, curiously "Who do you think he is?"  
"I think he's the same man." Clive admitted "I think he's immortal. I think he's an alien from another world."

_Oh dear... I think that Clive may have gotten to Rose, if her current expression is anything to go by... And that boyfriend of hers, right now, I'm really wondering what she sees in him... Although, I may have done something about him... You'll find out soon enough. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to lead a certain Doctor in the right direction..._


	5. Rose Page 5

Rose arrived back at the car, she was speaking before she even got in. "Alright!" she said "He's a nutter! Off his head! Complete online conspiracy freak. You win!" she got into the car, she didn't notice that there was something wrong with her boyfriend "What are we going to do tonight?" she asked to change the subject "I fancy a pizza."  
"Pizzaaa!"Mickey said in a strange voice "P-p-p-pizza!"  
"...or a Chinese..." Rose continued, still not noticing something was wrong.  
"Pizza!" They drove off in a less than straight line.

_I thought that Rose was an observant human being, obviously, I was wrong... Either that or she's ignoring it... Either way, I may have to call her attention to it. Anyway, I'm off to watch the Doctor as he seems unable to keep himself out of trouble_

Some time later, Rose and 'Mickey' were sitting at a table dressed for two in a nice London restaurant. "Do you think I should try the hospital?" she asked "Suki said they had a few jobs going in the canteen. That's it then... dishing out chips... I could do A levels..." Mickey stared at her a stupid grin on his face. "I dunno. It's all Jimmy Stone's fault. I only left school because of him, and look where he ended up, what do you think?"  
"So where did you meet this Doctor" Mickey asked  
"I'm sorry, wasn't I talking about me for a second?"  
"Because, I reckon it started back at the shop, am I right?" Mickey asked, ignoring Rose. "Is he something to do with that?"  
"No..."  
"Come on."  
"Sort of."  
"What was he doing there?" He pressed  
"I'm not going on about hi, Mickey , I'm not, because, I know it sounds daft but..." Rose told him "I don't think he's safe. I think he's dangerous."  
"But you can trust me, sweetheart." Mickey said "Babe, sugar, darling, sugar."  
Rose looked at Mickey in confusion

_Finally! she notices something's not right..._

"You can tell me anything. Tell me about the Doctor and what he's planning and I can help you, Rose." he continued "Because, that's all I really wanna do, sweetheart, , sweetheart."  
"What are you doing that for?" Rose asked, wondering why Mickey sounded as though he didn't have a clue what he was saying.  
Suddenly someone held a bottle of champagne beside Mickey's head. "Your champagne."  
"We didn't order any champagne." Mickey said as he took Rose's hand "Where's the Doctor?"  
The person who was offering them the champagne had moved to the other side of the table and held the bottle out to Rose. "Ma'am." he said "Your champagne."  
"It's not ours..." Rose said "Mickey, what is it? What's wrong?"  
"I need to find out how much you know, so where is h?"  
"Doesn't anybody want this champagne?"  
In exasperation, Mickey finally raised his head "Look, we didn't order i-" them he noticed that the person holding the bottle of champagne was in fact, the Doctor. "Ah. Gotcha."  
The Doctor shook the bottle. "Don't mind me." he said "I'm just toasting he happy couple. On the house."

The cork popped out and hit Mickey between the eyes. His forehead absorbed the cork and he spat it out of his mouth. Rose finally noticed what was wrong, Mickey wasn't really Mickey anymore, he'd been taken over, or replaced or something.  
"Anyway." His hands turned into clubs and he used them to smash the table in. Rose screamed and ran out of the way as the Doctor grabbed Mickey's head and pulled it off "Don't think that's gonna stop me."  
A couple at a nearby table screamed, but the Doctor grinned. Rose spotted the red box that held the control for the fire alarm, she broke the glass and pressed it "Everyone out!" she shouted "Out now!" Everyone ran for the exit. The headless Mickey imposter stayed inside and moved around blindly, smashing tables with his club-hands "Get out. "Rose continued "Get out! Get out!" She took off running with the Doctor through the kitchen and out of the service exit, the Mickey imposter in hot pursuit. The Doctor closed the metal door behind them and pulled out the metal device that Rose had seen him use before and locked the door. A he took care of the door, Rose tried desperately to find an escape from the yard they appeared to be trapped in. She banged desperately at the locked gates she found, "Open the gate!" she called to the Doctor "Use that tube thing, come on!"  
"What, this?" the Doctor asked, holding up the metal device "This is a sonic screwdriver."  
"Use it!" Rose shouted.  
"Nah." the Doctor said, as he approached a police box that stood in the middle of the yard "Tell you what, let's go in here." He unlocked the door. As all of this happened, the Mickey imposter was trying to get out and dents had begun to appear in the door. Rose ran to look at the box.  
"We can't hid inside a wooden box!" she ran back to the gate and rattled the chains "It's gonna get us!" she shouted "Doctor!" She gave up on the gates and then ran into the police box. She slammed the door behind her and stopped running a few strides in and looked around in shock, then she ran straight back out again, in disbelief she walked quickly around the police box, she arrived back at the door again as the Mickey imposter had finally made a hole in the door, so, she ran back into the police box.  
"It's gonna follow us!"  
"The assembled hoards of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me they've tried." the Doctor said "Now, shut up a minute." Rose stood near the door of the Police box, trembling as she looked at her surroundings, she was in a huge room, with a grating floor, starting where she was standing with a ramp, the rail beside her ran in front of some coral struts that extended, tree like from floor to ceiling, the ramp stopped at a large central column, it was a blue-green colour, the Doctor was standing by the control panel that surrounded it attaching wires to the Mickey imposter's head. "You see, the arm is too simple, but the head's perfect." he was saying, ignoring the fact that his young acquaintance was still standing by the door looking overwhelmed "I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source." he said as he finished "Right." he finally turned to face Rose, giving her his full attention. "Where do you want to start?" he asked  
"Um..." Rose started "the inside's bigger than the outside?"  
"Yes." the Doctor answered simply  
"It's alien." Rose stated  
"Yup." the Doctor agreed.  
"Are you alien?" she asked  
"Yes." the Doctor replied, going for simplicity as Rose stared at him. "Is that alright?"  
"Yeah." she replied quickly.  
"It's called the Tardis, this thing, T-A-R-D-I-S, that's Time And Relative Dimension In Space." Rose let out a small sob. "That's okay." the Doctor continued "Culture shock. Happens to the best of us."  
"Did they kill him?" Rose asked, the Doctor looked at her blankly, so she continued "Mickey? Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?"  
"Oh..." he said "Didn't think of that."  
"He's my boyfriend." Rose shouted "You pulled off his head - they copied him and you didn't even think?" Rose looked at the head, which had started to melt "And now you're just going to let him melt?!"  
"Melt?" the Doctor asked and he turned around in time to see the head melt accompanied by a bubbling noise. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, NO!" He started running frantically around the console, pressing buttons and pulling levers as he went.  
"What are you doing?"  
"Reviving the signal, it's fading!" the Doctor said "Wait, I've got it..." he pulled what looked like a computer screen towards him and looked at it "No, no, no, no, no, no, NO!" The Tardis shook as the engines started up. "Almost there! Almost there!" he said "Here we go!" The engines stopped and the Doctor ran out of the Tardis doors without another word.  
"You can't go out there, it's not safe!" Rose shouted after him, before she followed him outside.  
"I lost the signal, I got so close."  
Rose stepped out of the Tardis, looking confused as she realised that she was by the Thames, looking across at the London Eye. "We've moved!" she exclaimed "Does it fly?"  
"Disappears there, reappears here, you wouldn't understand."  
"But if we're somewhere else, what about that headless thing?" she asked "It's still on the loose."  
"It melted with the head, are you going to witter on all night?"  
"I'll have to tell his mother..." the Doctor looked at her questioningly "Mickey! I'll have to tell his mother he's dead, and you just went and forgot him, again!" The Doctor rolled his eyes, obviously unconcerned. "You were right, you _are_ alien." she turned to walk away, but he stopped her.  
"Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey-"  
"Yeah, he's not a kid." Rose interrupted.  
"It's because I'm trying to save the life of every _stupid_ ape blundering on top of this planet, alright?" He continuedas though she hadn't spoken.  
"Alright!"  
"Yes!" the Doctor said "It is!"  
Rose shook her head in disbelief, she thought this guy was a complete, to use the American term 'jackass' and an arrogant one at that. She decided to change the subject. "If you are an alien, then how comes you sound like you're from the North?" she asked  
"Lot's of planets have a North." he answered indignantly as he folded his arms and looked away.  
Rose looked back at the Tardis "What's a police public call box?" she asked  
"It's a telephone box from the 1950's." he answered as he patted the Tardis fondly, with a grin. "It's a disguise/"  
Rose smiled and shook her head "Okay." she said "And this living plastic. what's it got against us?"  
"Nothing, it loves you." the Doctor answered "You've got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air..." he explained "Perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. It's food stock was destroyed in the war, all it's protein planets rotted, so Earth... dinner!"  
"Any way of stopping it?" Rose asked  
The Doctor grinned, this girl was asking all the right questions, so he produced a tube of blue liquid from his inside jacket pocket "Anti-plastic!" he explained.  
"Anti-plastic..."Rose said in confusion.  
"Anti-plastic!" he said "But first I've got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?"  
"Hold on..." Rose said "Hide what?"  
"The transmitter." the Doctor answered, noticing again that she had asked the right question "The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal."  
"What's it look like?"  
"Like a transmitter." the Doctor answered "Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London." He paced around in agitation, as he looked for a clue. "A huge circular metal structure... like a dish..." He stood facing Rose, his back to the railings of the bridge. Behind him, the London Eye loomed 450 feet above them , but the Doctor didn't seem to register it "Like a wheel. Close to where we're standing. Must be completely invisible." Rose looked at the London Eye and then at the Doctor "What?" She nodded her head as she looked at the eye. He turned around, then back to her, completely confused "What?" Rose shook her head, still looking at the Eye. He turned again, but still failed to make the connection "What is it? What?" she simply carried on staring at it, he turned again and it finally clicked. "Oh..." he said "Fantastic!" He grinned at her and they ran off, the exchange had left Rose wondering how he got anything done on his own if he couldn't see that the London Eye was what he was looking for.

_Well, the Doctor has finally started to see what's right in front of him... Someone who asks the right questions at the right time... Oh and someone who's more observant than he is... Also, since he met her, I've started to see a bit more of the spark my Thief had in the beginning... Anyway, I suppose now that I better concentrate on keeping them out of trouble... And, no I had absolutely nothing to do with Mickey being copied, nothing at all... ok, maybe I urged him to investigate the bin... but that's all I did, honestly._


	6. Rose Page 6

Rose and the Doctor ran along London Bridge; hand in hand on their way to the Eye, they only stopped when they reached the foot of it. "Think of it." the Doctor said, when they stopped "Plastic, all over the world. Every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables..."  
"The breast implants..." Rose muttered.  
The Doctor grinned at her. "Still, we've found the transmitter." he said "The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath."  
Rose ran off and found the entrance to a man hole at the foot of the wall she was looking over. "What about down here?" she called, the Doctor ran over to her  
"Looks good to me." he told her as he too looked down. They ran down the stairs that were to their left. When they reached the man hole cover, the Doctor took the lid off of it and red light and smoke poured out. They climbed down the ladder presented to them one at a time. Once inside, the Doctor opened the door to another chamber and the went down some metal steps. The Doctor pointed to a huge, orange, wobbling mass in the middle of the chamber, that reminded Rose of molten rock. "The Nestene Consciousness." the Doctor said "that's it, inside the vat. A living plastic creature."  
"well, then." Rose said "Tip in your anti-plastic and let's go."  
"I'm not here to kill it." the Doctor told her. "I've got to give it a chance." They went down some more steps, then stopped. The Doctor leant over the railings and addressed the Consciousness. "I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract." the Doctor called. "According to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation ." The Consciousness moved around a bit. "Thank you. That I might approach."  
While the Doctor was talking, Rose paced around in the background for a moment, before she spotted Mickey and ran to him, causing the Doctor to roll his eyes.  
"Oh, my God!" she said "Mickey! It's okay! It's alright!" she crouched down next to him.  
"That thing down there, the liquid, Rose - it can talk!"  
"You're stinking!" Rose said "Doctor, they kept him alive!"  
"Yeah, that was always a possibility." the Doctor told her "Keep him alive to maintain the copy."  
"You knew that and you never said?"  
"Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?" the Doctor asked.  
Rose helped Mickey to his feet as the Doctor approached the Consciousness. "Am I addressing the Consciousness? Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilisation by means of warped, shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?"  
The molten plastic creature made strange noises and moved in what appeared to be a negative manner  
"Oh, don't give me that, it's an invasion!" the Doctor continued, "Plain and simple. Don't talk about constitutional rights!"  
The plastic reared what would appear to be it's head, angrily.  
"I- am- talking!" the Doctor shouted. "This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf- please just go." Two shop window dummies approached the Doctor from behind.  
"Doctor!" Rose shouted, but it was too late, the dummies grabbed his arms, one of them reached into his pocket and removed the anti-plastic.  
"That was just insurance!" the Doctor protested "I wasn't going to use it."  
The plastic moved in what could only be described as anger, making noises that only confirmed it's anger.  
"I was not attacking you." the Doctor continued defensively. "I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not... what do you mean?" The doors above him opened to reveal the Tardis. "Oh, oh no- honestly, no!" the Doctor said "Yes, that's my ship." The plastic roared "That's not true." the Doctor argued. "I should know, I was there. I fought in the war- it wasn't my fault! I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them."  
"What's it doing?" Rose asked.  
"It's the Tardis!" the Doctor replied "The Nestene has identified it's superior technology - its terrified!" he explained "It's going to the final base. It's starting the invasion! Get out, Rose! Just leg it!" He told her, hoping that she would listen "Now."  
Rose pulled out her mobile phone and dialled her mother's familiar number. "Mum!" she said when the phone was answered  
_"Oh, there you are, I was just gonna phone. You can get compensation. I said so. I've got this document thing off the police- don't thank me!"  
_"Where are you, mum?"  
_"I'm in town!"_  
"Go home!" Rose told her mum "Just go home, right now!"  
_"Darling, you're breaking up, look, I'm just going to do a bit of late night shopping. I'll see you later. Tara!" _ The line went dead as she hung up.  
"Mum?" Rose asked "Mum."

The Consciousness sent out a signal. "It's the activation signal!" the Doctor shouted "It's transmitting!"  
"The End of the world..." Rose trailed off  
The Doctor, who was still being held by the shop window dummies looked at Rose. "Get out, Rose." he shouted, not wanting her caught up in this "Just get out! Run!"  
As he spoke, part of the ceiling collapsed, taking the stairs, the only visible escape route, with it. "The stairs have gone!" Rose said as she and Mickey made their way to the Tardis, after a few moments, they reached it and tried to open the door. "I haven't got the key!"  
"We're gonna die!" Mickey cried.  
Rose watched as the Doctor struggled to get to the anti-plastic, then at her surroundings, before she reached a decision. She stood up  
"Just leave him!" Mickey protested, he was terrified and didn't want her to leave him alone. Rose moved to the other side of the room, where she had spotted a chain and an axe. "There's nothing you can do!"  
"I've got no A levels." Rose said as she picked up the axe. "No job..." she began to wield the axe. "No future." she brought the axe down on the chain, trying to release it." But I tell you what I have got. Jericho Street Junior School under 7's gymnastic team." The chain finally came loose and she grabbed it. "I've got the bronze!" She swung across the gap over the Consciousness. She kicked the dummies holding the Doctor hostage into the Nestene, anti-plastic and all. The Consciousness started to writhe and scream, Rose landed safely in the Doctor's arms at the other side of the gap. "Now we're in trouble." the Doctor said as he let her go.  
The Consciousness started to explode as the Doctor and Rose ran off, the signal having bee cut off. They reached the Tardis, the Doctor unlocked the door, Mickey entered the Tardis behind the Doctor. Rose turned and grinned at the Consciousness before she entered and closed the door behind her, as the Consciousness started to die. Just before the chamber went up in flames, the Tardis disappeared.

In a quiet alley, the Tardis appeared and the door opened, Mickey ran out backwards and fell over, looking terrified. He backed against the wall. Rose, on the other hand, stepped out, using her mobile phone. _"Rose! Rose! Don't go out of the house, it's not safe!" _Rose laughed in relief as she heard her mother's voice. _"They were all of these things! And they were shooting! And they-" _ Satisfied that her mother was alive, Rose hung up on her, a smile on her face, she then ran over to Mickey.  
"A fat lot of good you were."  
Mickey whimpered, the Doctor stood in the Tardis doorway watching them.  
"Nestene Consciousness?" He snapped his fingers. "Easy."  
"You were useless in there." Rose teased. "You'd be dead if it wasn't for me."  
"Yes, I would." the Doctor agreed. Thank you. Right then! I'll be off." he paused.

_Me again, hold on, I'm not about to let him leave without at least asking her..._

Something told the Doctor that he should invite Rose to join him in the Tardis. "Unless, oh... I don't know... you could come with me." Rose looked at him and put her hands in her pockets. "This box isn't just a London hopper, you know, it goes anywhere in the universe, free of charge."  
"Don't!" Mickey told her "He's an alien! He's a thing!"  
"He's not invited." the Doctor said, wondering, not for the first time, what she saw in this idiot. "What do you think? You could stay here and fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go, uh... anywhere."  
"Is it always this dangerous?" Rose asked.  
The Doctor nodded. "Yeah."  
Mickey put his arms around Rose's legs, like a little child. "Yeah, I can't... I've um... gotta go and find my mum and um... someone's gotta look after this stupid lump..." she said with a small laugh, as she patted Mickey on the back. "So,..."  
"Okay." the Doctor said, "See you around."  
Rose looked at him intensely, as though she still hadn't really made up her mind. The Doctor did not take his eyes off of her, but he closed the door. Rose looked at the closed door as the engines started and it slowly disappeared, she stared at the place where it had been, lost in thought.

_Oh, so she wants to go with him... I should maybe prompt him to go back for her... there we go, let's see what happens next._

"Come on, let's go." Mickey was in complete shock, as he too stared at where the Tardis had been. "C'mon... c'mon.." Rose helped him to his feet, as she too now wondered what exactly she had seen in Mickey, and they began to walk away. The sound of engines filled the alley again, they spun around, the Tardis was back, the door opened and the Doctor's head appeared in the doorway. "By the way - did I mention, it also travels in time?" He grinned and went back inside, leaving the door open for her. Rose turned to Mickey.  
"Thanks."  
"Thanks for what?"  
"Exactly." She kissed his cheek and ran into the Tardis with a broad smile on her face.

_Well, that went well and neither one of them has noticed the rather obvious attraction that they have for each other, I may have to give them a push in the right direction, but not yet, they need to get to know one another first... Anyway, let's leave them to get on with their first trip and I think that I may have to supervise a lot more now, given how jeopardy friendly these two are..._


End file.
